Steineded How sad is this?

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Matthew_Capitano I love Danny Kaye, but this film is somewhat strained with few genuinely funny moments to sustain one's true interest for 102 minutes... quite a long running time for a 1949 comedy.Kaye's goofy singing grows tiresome really fast, though he does sing a love song ('Wish on the Moon') with that beautiful voice of his. Tune in just to hear that. Barbara Bates plays the girl he loves and she's cute, but Walter Slezak's 'Yakov' character ruins the fun because he's such a scumbag, and in the end, he doesn't even get kicked out of the picture, in fact, he gets to hang around and enjoy the show.Movie is too long without enough laughs, but it's Danny Kaye and if you're a Danny Kaye fan like me, you'll want to see it.

Spikeopath Danny Kaye was a wonderful performer, he would sing, dance, tell jokes, turn his face into rubber and just generally come off as a quality humanitarian. The Inspector General showcases all of those talents. Directed by Henry Koster, The Inspector General is loosely adapted from Nikolai Gogol's classic Russian story, and it finds Kaye as a stooge of Walter Slezak's iffy tonic peddler who is mistaken by iffy officials of a small Russian town for the much feared and respected Inspector General. Cue mistaken identity mayhem as the music numbers, gags, visual contortions and all round slapstick ensues. Also along for the ride are Elsa Lanchester, Alan Hale, Barbara Bates and Gene Lockhart.It's more a safe and solid Kaye movie for the family to enjoy, rather than a high end classic like The Court Jester, but sometimes the high energy jinks of Kaye is all you need to lift the blues away. 7/10

darkwing_karnage Watching this was enjoyable. The movie started off somewhat slowly, and took its time picking up the pace. However, the pace quickly picked up speed when Danny Kaye came on screen. This is partly because his partner shows up at the same time. Walter Slezak does a fantastic job of contrasting Kaye throughout the movie, but more of that later.Danny Kaye's performance here is not quite as seamless as many. He does not seem to have the same audacity he displays in later movies, such as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Court Jester. It is also different in that, although it includes the usual confusion, plot twists, and multiplicity of plans going on at once, these elements are not executed as beautifully as in, for example, The Court Jester. Thus these scenes become comedic background, still enjoyable to watch, but not the masterpiece one may have become accustomed to. However, the movie was far from terrible. There were moments which, as I watched them, made me think, "That's so Danny Kaye." He has many of the same mannerisms and little twitches that make him so much fun to watch, along with an array of songs that would tie a normal tongue in knots. He looks quite dashing in his military uniform, and his character's innocence is just so much fun to see in Danny Kaye's brilliant blue eyes. His character (Georgi) is also contrasted masterfully with Slezak's (Yakov), making this movie a success. Yakov is so mean to poor Georgi (as well as everyone else) that the viewer simply must fall in love with the poor boy. Kaye plays a young man, very nearly a boy, while Yakov is so jaded and immoral. It is Yakov's cruelty to Georgi that endears Kaye's character to the viewer.To sum up, The Inspector General is a lighthearted movie involving superb writing, excellent juxtaposition, and a wonderful star and supporting villain.

ma-cortes Freely based on Nikolai Gogol's play , "The Inspector General" about a false Inspector who comes to examine a little corrupt town . It deals with an illiterate called Giorgi (Danny Kaye, able to tongue twist faster than anyone else) along with his boss (Walter Slezak) , both of whom are wandering and acting as medicine men into a provincial town wherein panic . Then Giorgi's detained for vagrancy charge but he's misidentified as a feared Inspector General who comes to check up on them and whom the corrupter town officers (the Mayor : Gene Lockhart married to Elsa Lanchaster and another officer played by Alan Hale) think is secretly moving in disguise . Later on , they make various bungled tryings to murder him . Meanwhile , Giorgi falls in love with a beautiful maid (Barbara Bates) who is serving to the Mayor. The film is a Danny Kaye recital , he sings , dances , stooges , makes acrobatics , tongue twister and puts faces and grimaces . It's a pretty amusing farce suggested by a play by the Russian writer Gogol with the master comedy actor and it displays much choreography and musical numbers . Sylvia Fine , Kaye's wife , is the lyricist , composer , besides associate producer and dialogs writer , and responsible for many of the best known musical routines and songs for her husband . The best gags are developed on the Charles Chaplin imitations when Kaye is having lunch ; the events in the crowded room with several hosts that seem Marx brothers sketches ; in addition , the comic numbers in the military training headquarter . Support cast is frankly good , such as Elsa Lanchester , Barbara Bates , Gene Lockhart , Alan Hale , Néstor Paiva and Rhys Williams , among others . The motion picture was well directed by Henry Koster . Picture is a Kaye vehicle , and many consider his best comedy , he's an authentic comedian and real farceur . If you like Kaye's crazy interpretation , you will most definitely enjoy this one .